July 14, 2008

Welcome to Environmental Advocates of New York’s online newsletter from the State Capital, your source for environmental news. We’ll update you every other week with tidbits and observations carefully gleaned from the halls of the Capitol.

And Introducing: The 2008 Super Bill Supporters

The 2008 Legislative Session has officially come to a close and Environmental Advocates of New York would like to shine a light on the 80 members of the State Assembly and 18 State Senators who supported the environmental community's priority "Super Bills" this year.  

The 2008 Super Bills include:

Wetlands Protection Act
This bill would close a loophole in New York’s wetlands protection laws by giving the state regulatory authority over freshwater wetlands of one acre or more, regardless of whether that wetland has been mapped by the agency.  

Despite renewed attention across the state and strong support from the Assembly back in April, the wetlands bill did not make it to the Senate floor for a vote.

Bigger Better Bottle Bill
In the annual battle to update New York’s bottle deposit law, supporters held out hope this year for a limited update of the law that would cover plastic water bottles.  

And while discussions about a watered down version of the bill did take place, they didn’t get far enough before the session closed. Once again, the Bigger Better Bottle Bill passed the Assembly and was stalled in the Senate.

There’s always next year, right? Governor David Paterson has publicly supported updating the state’s bottle deposit law to include water and sports drinks and the measure will face at least one fewer obstacle without Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno in charge. 

Global Warming Pollution Cap/Greenhouse Gas Pollution Control Act
Thanks to the leadership of Assemblyman Bob Sweeney and Senator Tom Morahan, significant movement was made on legislation that would require deep cuts in the pollution that is changing our climate. A member of the Senate Minority, Antoine Thompson, introduced a similar bill to cut greenhouse gases.

The measures would establish hard and fast limits on greenhouse gas emissions from all sources—cars, trucks, homes and factories. And while the Assembly bill passed back in April, the Senate bill fell short of being taken up by the full Senate for a vote.  

But we’re not giving up hope. Lawmakers could and should come back to Albany to pass the Senate bill and make this legacy-making legislation New York State law.

Net Metering Reforms
The environmental leaders from across the state who designate each year’s Super Bills, known as the Green Panel, also gave Super Bill status to two measures to reform the state’s net metering policy.

Net metering is the practice that credits consumers for the clean energy they generate themselves. The state’s new wind and solar net metering laws expand the eligibility criteria to include non-residential solar and wind systems. These measures became the only “Supers” to pass both houses this year.

Check the list below to see if your representatives in the State Assembly and the Senate supported the 2008 Super Bills. 

Please take note that the Assembly members listed voted to pass all of these priority measures, while the Senators listed either voted for, or co-sponsored, the bills.

 

NYS Assembly Supporters
Name	Party	District
Marc Alessi	D	1
Tom Alfano	R	21
Jeffrion L. Aubry	D	35
Bob Barra	R	14
Michael Benedetto	D	82
Michael Benjamin	D	79
Jonathan L.Bing	D	73
Philip Boyle	R	8
Adam Bradley	D	89
James F.Brennan	D	44
Richard L. Brodsky	D	92
Alec Brook-Krasny	D	46
Kevin A.Cahill	D	101
Karim Camara	D	43
Ron Canestrari	D	106
Joan K. Christensen	D	119
Barbara M.Clark	D	33
William Colton	D	47
James D. Conte	R	10
Vivian E. Cook	D	32
Michael Cusick	D	63
Steven Cymbrowitz	D	45
RoAnn M.Destito	D	116
Luis Diaz	D	86
Ruben Diaz, Jr.	D	85
Jeffrey Dinowitz	D	81
Steve Englebright	D	4
Herman D. Farrell, Jr.	D	71
Ginny Fields	D	5
Sandy Galef	D	90
Michael N. Gianaris	D	36
Deborah J. Glick	D	66
Richard N. Gottfried	D	75
Carl E. Heastie	D	83
Andrew Hevesi	D	28
Earlene Hooper	D	18
Sam Hoyt	D	144
D. Janele Hyer-Spencer	D	60
Ellen Jaffee	D	95
Hakeem Jeffries	D	57
Susan V.John	D	131
Brian P. Kavanagh	D	74
Micah Z  Kellner	D	65
Ivan C.Lafayette	D	34
Rory Lancman	D	25
George S. Latimer	D	91
Charles D. Lavine	D	13
Joseph R. Lentol	D	50
Barbara Lifton	D	125
Donna Lupardo	D	126
William B. Magnarelli	D	120
Alan Maisel	D	59
Margaret M. Markey	D	30
David G. McDonough	R	19
John J. McEneny	D	104
Tom  McKevitt	R	17
Joan L. Millman	D	52
Marcus Molinaro	R	103
Daniel J.O'Donnell	D	69
Felix Ortiz	D	51
Amy Paulin	D	88
Crystal D. Peoples	D	141
N. Nick Perry	D	58
Audry I. Pheffer	D	23
J. Gary Pretlow	D	87
Phil Ramos	D	6
Linda Rosenthal	D	67
Michelle Schimel	D	16
Mark J. F. Schroeder	D	145
Mike Spano	D	93
Robert K. Sweeney	D	11
Fred W. Thiele, Jr.	R	2
Michele R. Titus	D	31
Robert Walker	R	15
Helene E. Weinstein	D	41
Harvey Weisenberg	D	20
Mark Weprin	D	24
Ellen Young	D	22
Kennneth Zebrowski	D	94
Sheldon Silver	D	64

        

NYS Senate Supporters
Name	Party	District
Neil D. Breslin	D	46
Martin Connor	D	25
Ruben Diaz, Sr.	D	32
Thomas K. Duane	D	29
Kemp Hannon	R	6
Craig M. Johnson	D	7
Liz Krueger	D	26
Kenneth P. LaValle	R	1
Valmanette Montgomery	D	18
George Onorato	D	12
Suzi Oppenheimer	D	37
Frank Padavan	R	11
Kevin S. Parker	D	21
Bill Perkins	D	30
Eric T. Schneiderman	D	31
Jose M. Serrano	D	28
Andrea Stewart-Cousins	D	35
Antoine  Thompson	D	60

 

Who Cares about CAIR?

Late last week the D.C. Circuit Court struck down the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) in its entirety.  Without CAIR, New York State will have a more difficult time trying to reach federal air quality standards for ozone (smog) and other air pollution. Currently 30 New York counties don't meet the Environmental Protection Agency's minimum air quality standards. 

The rule requires cuts in the soot and smog-forming emissions from power plants in the eastern U.S.  In New York, the EPA estimates that the rule would have saved 1,451 lives in 2015. States that currently don't meet federal smog and soot standards were counting on these power plant reductions in their compliance plans.  

So what's it all mean? We're still sorting it out the sooty details and will be in touch with more news soon.

And Environmental Justice for All  

Last week the Governor's Environmental Justice Interagency Task Force held its inaugural meeting. Representatives from 12 state agencies, the Governor's Office and more than 50 advocacy groups met to develop policy recommendations.  

The Task Force's five workgroups (water, land, air, food and toxics) will solicit input and public comments at various points in the process through December 2008, when they anticipate the release of agency action agendas. 

The Environmental Justice Interagency Task Force includes representatives from the Division of Human Rights; Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation; Department of Labor; Department of Health; Department of State; Metropolitan Transit Authority; Empire State Development Corporation; Department of Transportation; Department of Agriculture and Markets; New York State Energy Research Development Authority; Department of Housing and Community Renewal; and Department of Public Service.

State of the State Energy Plan   

In March Governor Paterson issued an Executive Order directing the creation of a State Energy Plan to enable the “State to determine its future energy needs and facilitate a deliberate, efficient, and cost-effective means of meeting those needs." 

To create the Plan, the Governor convened the State Energy Planning Board to conduct the planning process, which should culminate in recommendations that will keep New York at the forefront among the states in providing its residents with reliable, economical and clean energy resources.  

Along with other stakeholders, Environmental Advocates of New York was invited to participate in round table discussions. We also submitted comments on the “Draft Scope” of the plan, and will follow the proceedings as they unfold. The draft plan is scheduled for release on March 31, 2009, and will be finalized in July. Our efforts will focus on encouraging the Board to view this exercise as an opportunity to put in place policies that require the deep greenhouse gas reductions we need to avoid the worst effects of climate change.  

Stay tuned.